The next day Henri acted on that suggestion as he showed up with guns drawn to an almost empty candy shop, which was apparently owned by Sonnerstein, with the intent to kidnap his son. That might be the incentive that Maddox or the others needed to finally give into his demands.
As he entered the child came downstairs and was shocked to see him and pointed at Henri soundlessly while Henri pointed both pistols in his direction, “Hello there, my name is Henri Metier, and you are…”
Aessesser muttered in his head sullenly as did a few of the others, “You know it is he.”
“SHUT UP!” Henri yelled loudly at his raven, before turning back to Scald with the same smile he’d had before.
Scald bowed to him, though he still looked like he was on his guard. Henri nodded to show he appreciated the gesture and then asked, “You are a friend of Maddox Sinclaire, yes?”
Scald nodded as well, ending a pantemime that he had been doing that had involved drinking a cup and his tongue.
“Yes, I thought you might be.” Henri said as he took out Arnold’s journal and held it up smiling. “It’s a good read, tell Arnold that it’s been quite informative.” He probably shouldn’t have mentioned that, but considering what he was here to do it wouldn’t matter much what he told the boy.
Scald frowned as he stared at the journal, probably wondering what was inside of it and what Metier had learned…
“So now, if you would kindly come with me, I’m afraid I’m kidnapping you.” Henri laughed more hysterically than usual and his fingers almost closed on their own and fired at the young Sonnerstein.
Scald simply scowled at him and reached into his bag quickly.
“Shoot him!” The voice of Strife and those that agreed with him cried, while others pointed out he was just a boy. Henri was just a little surprised considering he did have a gun pointed at the child and this was of course the only response he could have. He couldn’t let the boy find what he was looking for…it could be a gun or explosive. Perhaps the child had simply been under the mistaken belief he was immortal. Henri shot at the top of the childs head as the only warning he’d get that he was not.
The child let out what could have been a gasp, and ducked behind the railing as he threw something across the floor at Henri. Henri reacted instinctively and rolled out of the way and hid behind a wall a moment and waited for an explosion, and when they didn’t he looked back in at what appeared to be nothing but a bunch of seeds.
“Interesting,” Henri said as he looked to Aessesser to see what this could mean.
All of the voices agreed for once that this was obviously a trap. Aessesser added that it would be foolish of him to go anywhere near them.
Henri smiled, and too late Aessesser remembered that it had used the one word that would ensure that Henri would step right into them on purpose.
“If it would be foolish to step in it, then I MUST!” Henri laughed as he intentionally stepped forward, opening fire on Scald with his pepper shots, shooting several times. The voices were very torn on this, because this time he was actually shooting for the child behind the railings. The child was lucky for the first few moments, but as he got closer the more likely his guns would actually hit their mark. Too bad it didn’t seem like the boy would surrender.
How the weeds grew, he couldn’t have said, perhaps science or magic had their hand in it. What was important was that he was being surrounded by greenery. Henri laughed as he cut and struggled his way through, which was getting harder as they were trying to wrap around his legs and arms as he shouted, “Very impressive!”
Scald had retreated, going around the green to avoid getting trapped himself probably. Most of the voices in his head were displeased with him now, he’d intentionally walked into this after all. He’d have to make it up to them later he thought as he made his own way out, which was becoming easier as barely a minute had passed and the plants were already turning brown and rotted.
He had vaguely seen Scald dragging the rat boy he’d paid last week away from him. He ran after them but eventually lost them. They must have ducked into a house or a sewer along the way. He turned to Aessesser and the others in his head if they had seen where they went. But they were not very happy with him at the moment. There were a few who thought shooting at the child was wrong, and then there were the ones who thought stepping in the trap was wrong, but the strongest one was Strike or Strife who was very displeased that he had failed to take the child hostage or even shoot him.
He knew that he had to placate them for this failure later tonight, but for now he had to escape. After he did he laid low for a few hours and then journeyed to the Sinclaire submarine and using the very first journal entry which pointed out that Arnold had bought dynamite he searched until he found his hidden pile, left there possibly because it wasn’t safe in the hospital. Henri had lost the journal while escaping all those plants, but he still remembered the important parts.
He kept a bit of the dynamite for future use, and that made a few of the voices a little happier as the Sinclaire home was about to be destroyed and the potential destruction he could now accomplish. He ran down the port towards a manhole and escaped into the sewers himself just as it went off.
While wandering the sewers he did find another place to sleep for the night, though he was forced to kill a few rats. Henri chuckled as he laid down, and set himself for whatever few minutes of sleep he could manage.
“What will you do after she is dead?” Henri was asked suddenly and he paused, he had figured that he’d just go back to enjoying his life of drinking and coursing for the most part.
“Is that a satisfactory ending? Do you think that those who you invited to watch will be appeased by that?”
Henri pondered that thought throughout the night, and he laughed as he realized that of course it wouldn’t. He’d have to think of something else.
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